India Elections Blog

Parliamentary elections came to an end on May 16 with victory for Narendra Modi, the country's new prime minister. Visit our India page at aljazeera.com/india for the latest news. The liveblog will remain as an archive to the election.

India's main opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has released its much delayed election manifesto, as millions of Indians began voting in parts of the country's northeast states of Tripura and Assam.

Under the slogan, "One India, great India," the 52-page manifesto outlined the party's vision for India's future under the leadership of prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.

India's main opposition party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its election manifesto the same day that the country began its voting process and garnered some tongue-in-cheek reactions on social media.

The 52-page manifesto promised to revive the economy and stamp out corruption. On Twitter, journalists, analysts and commentators took to the micro-blogging site to dissect and even poke fun at the manifesto.

Two stars are throwing their weight behind candidates, who are themselves big names, in the Lok Sabha fight in Chandigarh.

Reality show "MTV Roadies"' executive producer and host Raghu Ram was seen campaigning for Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Gul Panag, a TV personality. Meanwhile, Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor, who made appearances in "24", flew back from Dubai to show support for Panag's rival, BJP candidate and veteran actress Kirron Kher.

According to Election Commission (EC) sources and local media reports, the EC might cancel polls in West Bengal if the Mamata Banerjee-led government does not comply with its order to transfer officials.

The Times of India in its story said that the EC had ordered the transfer of eight West Bengal officials including five district police chiefs and one district magistrate on Monday. But a defiant chief minister Banerjee refused to carry out the instruction and said she was even prepared to go to jail.

More on this story soon.

by Umika Pidaparthy4/8/2014 6:33:20 AM

India Elections Diary: Muzaffarnagar

Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India - A town that is the nerve centre of communal divide from Hindu-Muslim riots last year and divided by the elections. AJE's Baba Umar reports.http://aje.me/1lMYcXP

Nemesis or not, he [Arvind Kejriwal] succeeded in ending the 15-year rule of the Congress Party in Delhi and now is up against the might of "Brand Modi", the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

by Umika Pidaparthy4/8/2014 8:30:00 AM

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal [AFP/Getty Images]

AAP's Arvind Kejriwal slapped in New Delhi, tweets after

Activist-turned-politician and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a rickshaw puller while campaigning in New Delhi, according to local media sources.

NDTV, a local television channel, said that this is the second time in four days that the leader was attacked. On Friday, he was punched by a man in another area of the city.

After the incident, Kejriwal turned to his official Twitter account and said that if violence was the solution to the country's problems, he welcomed it.

"I would advocate the common man's voice in Parliament." Can Yogendra Yadav, the AAP candidate from Gurgaon, Haryana, click with rural voters, who are disappointed with BJP and Congress performance? #IndiaElections AJE's Baba Umar reports.http://aje.me/1ipjeFr

Election Commission officials have been busy keeping a close eye on the increasingly heated squabbles among the political candidates as the second round of voting comes to an end.

On Wednesday, Aam Aadmi "Common Man" party candidate from Chandni Chowk Ashutosh landed a red card from the EC for a tweet he sent out accusing his BJP opponent and Law Minister, Kapil Sibal, of vote buying in Chandni Chowk constituency of Delhi.

AAP party head Arvind Kejriwal, who is recovering from a slap by an autorickshaw driver, also earned himself a notice for holding a meeting in Rajghat yesterday without permission. [Reuters]

by nadine.cheaib4/9/2014 11:00:36 AM

I am not old. I am senior. I and Modi are 60 plus energetic youngsters.

- Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu

Southern regional TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu is seeking re-election from his Kuppam seat of Chittoor district in the Andhra Pradesh elections, according to local media reports. He apparently said the above statement after the Kuppam announcement.

NDTV reports that Naidu’s name is in the first list of TDP candidates for seven Lok Sabha and 47 Assembly segments in Seemandhra.

Seemandhra elections for 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies will be held on May 7.

Election front-runner Narendra Modi has acknowledged for the first time that he is married, solving one of the biggest mysteries about his private life, reported AFP on Thursday.

In an affidavit on Wednesday as he filed his nomination papers to contest parliament from the Vadadora constituency in western Gujarat state, the BJP leader acknowledged that he had a wife named "Jashodaben", but he states elsewhere in the filing that he had "no information" about her.

Here are some other key political leaders that are also single:

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi Says he "actually enjoys loneliness", has made a virtue of his de facto single status, saying it will help him clean up India's rampant corruption. "I've no familial ties. Who would I ever try to benefit through corruption?" he told a rally, claiming only those free of familial ties can end what opponents charge are years of corrupt rule by the Congress party. [EPA/DIivyakant Solanki]

Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi last year declared he did not want to wed, saying he feared he would "become status-quoist and want my children to take my place" and perpetuate his family's dominant political role, reported AFP. [EPA/JAGADEESH NV]

AJE's correspondent Nidhi Dutt, field producer Toral Varia and cameraman Vijay Bedi have been tweeting while covering the elections in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Here are some of the photos they took and posted while in the field.

Voting in India's crucial third phase of elections in the capital, two other union territories and 11 states has ended, according to Reuters news agency

Voters in eastern Gaya city cast their ballots on Thursday and sealed the fate of candidates contesting from various political parties as well as independent candidates who have been rigorously campaigning since the past two- three months.

Narendra Modi, tipped to be India's next prime minister, sought on Saturday to reassure the nation's big Muslim minority he would respect their traditions.

Protection of majority Hindu India's secular status has surfaced as a key election issue with critics worrying Modi's Hindu nationalist rhetoric could stoke religious tensions in a country where 13 percent of the 1.2-billion population is Muslim.

In interview exerpts on India TV's website, Modi, leading the campaign of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said he refused to don a skullcap presented to him by a Muslim cleric three years ago because he did not want "to hoodwink people".

by Saif Khalid4/13/2014 6:44:09 AM

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra says decision to not run in elections is hers, no pressure from senior leaders

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, member of Congress and the younger sister of Rahul Gandhi, told local television channel NDTV that there was never a proposal for her to run against Narendra Modi.

No one in my family would ever stop me from contesting an election. My brother, mother and husband would wholeheartedly support me if I wanted to contest.

The comment comes after the Times of India published a report saying that senior Congress leaders blocked Vadra from running even though she was keen and is more likely to revitalise the party than her brother.